Monday, December 31, 2012: Gil Scott-Heron’s memoir The Last Holiday is a testament to the extraordinary life of the activist, musician and poet. Scott-Heron is commonly known for his 1970’s hit “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. His publisher, editor, and long-time friend, Jamie Byng tells Bob about the book and shares the legacy of Gil Scott-Heron. It’s now available in paperback.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013:Lori Andrews became a consumer activist when she was seven and her Ken doll went bald. She wrote a letter to Mattel and got results. Now Andrews’ attention is focused on online privacy. Her book titled I Know Who You Are and I Saw What You Did: Social Networks and the Death of Privacy has just been released in paperback. Then, Jonathan Gruber served as a health care reform advisor to Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts and to President Obama as he worked to pass the national Affordable Care Act. To help sort through the misconceptions and confusion, Gruber has distilled the very complicated bill into a very simple format: Health Care Reform: the comic book, is now available in paperback.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013: On November 18, 1978, more than 900 people killed themselves in a jungle in Guyana. A book titled A Thousand Lives: the Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown tells the story of five of those who willingly followed pastor Jim Jones to South America and to their own demise. Author Julia Scheeres joins Bob to discuss the tragedy.

Thursday, January 3, 2013: Lawrence Powell is a professor emeritus in Tulane University’s Department of History – so who better to write about the first 100 years of New Orleans? His latest book is titled The Accidental City and it covers the period from the first hunters, trappers and explorers in the region through the end of The War of 1812. Then,Bob talks with Joey Burns, a founding member of the band Calexico. Burns will discuss the band’s music, branded by some as “desert noir,” Calexico’s homebase of Tucson, Arizona, their ideas for immigration reform and why they decided to record their latest CD in New Orleans. Calexico’s seventh studio album is called Algiers.

Friday, January 4, 2013: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Next, for fans of the hit PBS Masterpiece series Downton Abbey the wait is almost over. January 6th kicks off the third season of the Emmy award-winning series, letting viewers finally find out what happened to their favorite residents of the English manor house. Bob talks with actor Jim Carter, who plays Carson, Downton’s ever-steady butler and actor Rob James-Collier, who plays Thomas, the villain viewers love to hate. Then, the latest installment of our ongoing series This I Believe.